After the agreement between Barça and Leeds, only the medical review is missing
BARCELONA, 13 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona announced this Wednesday the signing of the Brazilian winger Raphael Dias Belloli ‘Raphinha’, following the agreement reached with the English Leeds United FC, and the transfer will be effective as soon as the player passes the medical check-up with the Blaugrana club.
“FC Barcelona and Leeds United Football Club have reached an agreement in principle for the transfer of Raphael Dias Belloli, Raphinha, pending the player passing the medical examination,” the Catalan club announced.
For Barça, Raphinha is a winger who “makes a difference”. Born in December 1996 in Porto Alegre (Brazil), he is a “very unbalanced” winger who makes one-on-one the “essence of his game”.
“Very talented with the ball at his feet, he seeks to get past his defender through dribbling. To do this, being a left-footed right winger, he always tries to face the rival goal to try to finish the play with a precise cross towards a teammate or with a shot on goal”, highlighted the Blaugrana club in the statement.
In addition, they value that he is a set-piece specialist. “His precision with his left leg makes him a very dangerous player both in free kicks from the front of the area and in crosses from the corner,” assured the culé entity.
Trained in the Avaí youth academy, in 2016 he made the leap to European football signing for Vitória Guimarares of the Portuguese Primeira Liga and two seasons later he signed for Sporting Club de Portugal, who invested 6.5 million euros in his signing.
After passing through the French Stade de Reims, who paid 21 million euros to Sporting, Raphinha landed at Leeds trained by Marcelo Bielsa. In the Premier League he played a total of 30 games in his first season, helping his team with 6 goals and 9 assists.
In his second year, despite Leeds’ difficulties in staying in the Premier League, he scored 11 goals and provided 3 assists to help secure permanence on the final day.
ABSOLUTE INTERNATIONAL WITH BRAZIL
At the international level, he was called up for the first time with the Brazilian team in August 2021 for the triple qualifying round for the 2022 Qatar World Cup against Chile, Argentina and Peru. His debut with Brazil was on October 7 against Venezuela, participating in two of the three goals that served to win the game.